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Tunneling, also known as "port forwarding," is the transmission of data intended for use only within a private, usually corporate network through a public network in such a way that the routing nodes in the public network are unaware that the transmission is part of a private network. Tunneling is generally done by encapsulating the private network data and protocol information within the public network transmission units so that the private network protocol information appears to the public network as data. Tunneling allows the use of the Internet, which is a public network, to convey data on behalf of a private network.
One approach to tunneling is the Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) developed by Microsoft and several other companies. The PPTP keeps proprietary data reasonably secure, even though part of the path(s) between or among end users exists in public communication channels. The PPTP makes it possible for authorized users to gain access to a private network - called a virtual private network (VPN) -through an Internet service provider (ISP) or online service. Another commonly used tunneling protocol is generic routing encapsulation (GRE), developed by Cisco Systems. There are numerous, less common tunneling protocols.
Tunneling, and the use of a VPN, is not intended as a substitute for encryption/decryption. In cases where a high level of security is necessary, the strongest possible encryption should be used within the VPN itself, and tunneling should serve only as a convenience.
Last updated on: May 29, 2007
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